Mass Effect: Machines of war
by SHONENJUMPBOY
Summary: After the events of ME1, Human colonies are missing and it's up to Cerberus to find out who and why? The story goes with a Cerberus Soldier. This saga goes to ME1 to ME redemtion. As for Shepard...he may be in. Rated M 16 .


The galaxy is something that humans have always wanted to discover what was out in deep space. When they had the technology to find out, they indeed have discovered life and tried to befriend them. But as time went by, the races have come to dislike each other, racism, wars. But the Asari, Turians, salarians and Humans have become one and become the Alliance, but the hatred for each other is still deep inside.

A man was looking at a star on his chair with a cigar in his fingers, he brought it up to his lips, inhaled and puffed out smoke. He turned on a switch on his chair and a Video was brought up in front of him. It was a news report about a human male called Commander Shepard, the first human spectre, hero of the citadel, Earth born, sole survivor, who defeated Saren from a geth invasion. He walked away to his ship, the Normandy. The reports said that he had left the council to die and save human lives to defeat the geth, after the battle, an explosion came and a search team went to find Shepard, Shepard's human friend Kaiden Alenko and a Turian called Garrus Vakarian. But they fought Shepard died, but Shepard stood proudly on a pillar looking over them, but with the council gone, they needed a leader, Shepard chose Captain Anderson, former Captain of the Normandy.

The man turned off the screen and took another puff of his cigar. No one knows what his true Identity is, he is called 'the Illusive man' well informed leader of Cerberus.

Cerberus is the codename for a black ops organization that was part of the Systems Alliance military before going rogue. Cerberus has since evolved into a human-survivalist paramilitary group. Cerberus' core belief is that humans deserve a greater role in the galactic community, and that the Alliance is too hamstrung by law and public opinion to stand up effectively to the Citadel races.

He has close-cropped silver-grey hair with steely blue eyes which appear to be prosthetic.

Cerberus had tried many attempts to kill Shepard, but failed. A women came up from behind him, the women saluted "Sir, we have an urgent message from your agents."

The Illusive man, took a puff from his cigar "What's the message?" he said.

"They have reported Humans are missing in Human colonies but they haven't found out what the cause of this is"

The Illusive man took another smoke, he had the same Information that other people were having, "Send 4 ships to find out the cause of this, I want the best and inform the Captains about the situation" he ordered. The women Saluted and walked off.

The Illusive stood up from his, took a few steps forward and inhaled a smoke and let out a long puff. No Matter what the costs are, it was his job to protect the human race and bring them on top. And he always gets what he wants.

* * *

A man was sitting in his office, typing on his computer from his last mission, much as he hated to, Cerberus wanted everything so they could learn to correct their mistakes. He stopped typing and putted his hands on his face in frustration. 'One man lost against a squad of Turian's, my ship needs repairs, can it get any worse than this?' He thought from the battle.

A message popped up and his computer made a sound to notify him. He moved his hands away from his face to the keyboard, he clicked the message and it was from The Illusive man. He opened the e-mail and read through it.

Dear Captain Johan Gerulf of the 8th Cerberus Assault Force.

I have an urgent mission for you, Human colonies have been missing, we don't have much details on who or what the cause of the problem is. We selected your ship and crew members to go to a planet that you may never heard of before, the coordinates has already been sent to your ship. Bring back as much information as possible and bring your best crew members.

Repairs, fuel, food, weapons and anything else you need has been sent to your ship, no cost needed.

Good luck.

The Illusive Man.

Gerulf sighed in depression, 'things have indeed got worse'. But he was in no position to refuse his boss, he turned off his computer and stood from his chair and left his office. Gerulf was a middle aged man, he was born on Earth in Germany, his family were part of the Alliance for 10 years in total. He intended to follow their footsteps until an a group of Turians and who were part of the Blue suns, they killed his mother and father who were trying to defend a Salarian who was important to the Alliance. After that, the council only honoured their deaths, but to him, it was a load of bullshit. He hated the Aliens and wanted to see them suffer, Cerberus was the place for him. He was a tall man with brown eyes, he was a little bit chubby but his combat is still sharp, his face is a light tan, had a few wrinkles on his face. His hair is a buzz cut and black but with a few signs of grey.

As he made his way to an elevator, one of his old time friends walked besides him. "Hey Gerulf, what's the hurry?" he said.

"Ah, good timing Aldric, I need you to get the crew. We're heading out on a mission" he said as he and Aldric stepped inside the elevator.

The elevator ride was quick, Cerberus knew that most of the elevators were slow but they improved the speed. For some reason they didn't do that for their ships, the elevator came to a stop and the doors opened, Gerulf and Aldric stepped out gazed at their ship.

It was not the biggest or smallest ship, but it was a good ship, they had the twin beam canons that can bring hell to their opponent, their shield is strong, the crew has great battle experience and they hold many stories. On the side of the ship it said 'Ark Royal', a name from the English Fleet against the Spanish Armada, a war between England and Spain on Earth in 1588.

Aldric looked at Gerulf, his old friend stared at his ship, thinking back on the glory days and the horrid days. "Well Gerulf, guess it's time to go on board" Aldric said, but Gerulf didn't take his eye's off the ship and just nodded to reply.

Meanwhile inside the ship, the crew members of the ark royal were getting ready their new mission, the deck members were sitting on their chairs typing away on their keyboards. Others checking if everything is running smoothly, the pilot typing on his keyboard, preparing for anything that may to come. Down in the Cafeteria/Medic deck, the others were also preparing for their next mission. In the engineering deck, many were making sure that the engine was running 100% and nothing that can leak or be infected.

The pilot pressed a button that allowed him to talk to the crew "All systems running smooth, we have no signs of leaks or infection and the Engine is running good."

A man came up behind the pilot and putted his hand on top of his soldier "Are you sure Alan? Remember last time you said that?" he grinned teasingly.

Alan said everything was okay until a loud bang was heard, the Engine wasn't ready and the crew got extremely angry and the Captain was not happy.

"Oh come on Lieutenant! It was an accident!" Alan tried to defend himself.

Alan Butler is a spacer born in omega, his parents were poor and didn't have a good life and got into arguments occasionally. At the age of 16, he ran away and Cerberus found him, he joined them and trained to become a pilot and he was the best out of his class and so they assigned him on the Ark Royal which to him was an honour. He's 22, green eyes, brown short hair and growing a beard, he's trained for combat and his determination is an asset to the missions.

The Lieutenant smiled, his name was David Drake, 23 years old. He lived in a human colonie far across the milky way, he lived on the streets, being bullied and abused by the public for scavenging to survive. When he was 6, a civil war broke out, it was about the governments raising taxes and taking everyone's food, jobs, homes and loved ones. The people took arms and Drake was forced to fight, he accept without hesitation, at least he could have a good way to die. Drake was an excellent soldier, he killed over 1 million in his civil war life, he was a great leader and his courage never died and was called 'hero of the civil war'.

The war lasted for 12 years, the result was the government declared peace and listen to the public, and Drake on the other hand was now out of work. But Cerberus saw him, they needed more soldiers like him, they went to him and told him he could have a life, a dream. Drake wanted a dream, so he accepted. His hair was a black buzz cut, his eyes were light blue and had a clean shave.

Captain Gerulf approached the two chatting soldiers and coughed to show he's here, the lieutenant turned his around to see his Captain, he turned his whole in front and saluted. Alan turned spun his chair around and Saluted as well, Gerulf putted his hands behind his back.

"I assume everything is going well, Mr. Butler?" he said in a slight angry tone, remembering about last time.

Alan putted his hands up in defence "I said I was sorry!".

Gerulf shook his head sideways "Sure you are, but anyway, we have an AI on board".

Hearing the word 'AI' in Alan's ears was a meaning of death, "say what!" he yelped. And suddenly an Quantum light purple box type popped up to Alan and Drake's left.

"Greetings, I am the Artificial Intelligence of the Ark Royal, I am know as Delta, My programming is to guide and assist you on your missions from now on". The AI had a female monotone voice, Alan stared at the AI in shock and felt betrayed.

Anger then swelling up inside, feeling the heat coming up to his head, "Sir! You're having an AI watching me 24 hours and 7 days a week!" Alan shouted, almost standing from his chair. Gerulf crossed his arms in front of his chest, his facial expression not amused by the pilots attitude but understands what he's going through.

"Look Alan, I know you hate this, but it was requested by the Illusive Man. We do what we're told, I'm sorry but you'll have to live with it. Lieutenant, return to your duties, you too Alan" he ordered, and with that, he did so too.

Alan sat in anger and confusion, he clenched his fist. Drake placed his hand on Alan's shoulder and smiled "he's not bullying you, he cares about his crew. If I was him, I would love to not to have an AI on board. But he can't refuse the Illusive Man." Drake reassured him.

Alan looked up at his friend and gazed at the metal floor. "Yeah, I guess your right" he admitted, Drake nodded and went to the elevator.

Drake pressed the button for the docking bay where he usually works, the doors closed and the elevator slowly went down. He let out a relaxed sigh, he was sleeping peacefully until they received a new mission, the elevator came to a stop and the doors opened to reveal the docking bay, it was big, nice cool air and stacks of crates, weapons and vehicles. He walked over to a shuttle that he and his squad mates use on their 3 man missions, he placed his hand on it. He had a close friend he met when he first came named Jack Walton who always went on a mission with Drake, Jack died saving him from an Asari Justicar. Jack told Drake to run, Drake never felt so much pain before, he hated the Asari race so much, "This is Captain Gerulf, I want Lieutenant Drake, private Adams and private Duncan to the shuttle. We have reached the planet Ukar, be prepared men." the captain ordered. No need for Drake to go since he was already there.

10 minutes later, Adams and Duncan came down to the docking bay in their Cerberus amour on they had their helmets on for maximum protection, for privates this was understandable. Drake was leaning on the shuttle, wear his amour, but this one was a Tier 1 amour. Cerberus wanted to train soldiers into Elite's, Tier 1 recruits only the best soldiers and have extremely high training then any other soldiers. The two privates saluted to Drake

"We're ready to go Lieutenant Drake!" they both said in union, Drake nodded and they got into the shuttle.

The shuttle lifted and flew out of the ship and went to the planet, the three soldiers sat in silence, Adams and Duncan were nervous, this was their first real mission, but they needed to go on the field sooner or later. Drake noticed them shaking "I know you guys are nervous, but give it your best, okay?" he said, trying to calm them. They just nodded.

* * *

The shuttle landed, the door open and the soldiers stepped out, the shuttle door closed and flew off back the the ship. Drake looked around the area, it was said that Ukar was beautiful planet until scientist were creating an experiment that went horribly wrong. It was a medicine that was supposed to heal a virus that people were having, it made them feel better, but somehow it made the virus destroy nature. The planet is now a wasteland with very little population, Drake, Adams and Duncan walked up a hill to the very top. Once on top, they looked at the horizon, nothing, rocks and dust like the grand canyon, Adams saw a factory in the distance that's not too far away.

"Sir! There's a factory over there!" he shouted while pointing.

Drake saw what he meant, he placed his right finger to his right ear. "Delta, do you have any information about a factory that's here?" he asked his new guide.

"Yes, a factory that use to make sugar but when the virus came, they shuttled it to prevent infection to others if the virus gets in the sugar. Then it was taken over by scientists who was trying to cure the virus, they succeeded but the plants and other sources of life died, the reason for this is unknown".

"Thanks Delta...okay men, let's investigate the factory" with that said, Drake advanced to the factory with Duncan following, but Adams didn't move.

Duncan noticed Adams wasn't following "C'mon Adams! Let's go!".

Adams looked at Duncan "Heh...sorry I was ju-" he was cut off by a shot to the head.

Duncan's eyes widened in shock and confusion. Drake snapped his head back to see Adams collapsing on his back and left their sights, Duncan ran up the hill to get Adams.

"DUNCAN! NO! ITS A SNIPER!" Drake shouted, trying to get Duncan back but it was too late, Duncan got shot and fell dead with Adams.

Drake stood in fear of the deaths of his team mates, he didn't know what to do, he ran to the factory as fast as his legs could carry him. He turned his head around and saw a Geth with an assault riffle on top of the hill, Drake turned his head back around and kept running to the factory.

"DELTA! ALAN! COME IN!" he tried to contact his ship but the Geth were jamming his communications.

He finally got the the factory, the place was in bad shape, he went through the doors that were no longer in place, he pulled out his assault rifle and pointed forward and moved slowly. He checked rooms to make sure no Geth were inside, after searching he heard voices, he followed the voices echoing in a hall, the voices were getting louder and more clearer as he was closer. Drake placed his back against a wall and heard the voices, he saw a doorway with no door slide, he took a deep breath and went inside gun at the ready to shoot. By the biggest surprise, it wasn't Geth but it was Quarians, five of them, the Quarians noticed Drakes appearance and they pointed their guns at him.

"Cerberus? What are **YOU** doing here?" a female Quarian said aloud pointing her shotgun at him.

"I could say the same thing for you too" Drake replied. A minute of silence came until Drake spoke.

"Okay then, I'm Lieutenant Drake, Cerberus, Tier 1. I'm here to find why humans are missing in human colonies and who's doing it." he said, now was not a good time to fight Quarians but is wondering why they are on a human planet. They were sharing glances at each other, wondering why Drake was telling them why he was here and should they tell him why they are here. But the same female Quarian spoke out.

"I am Kuruma'Zayya vas Sheten of the Migrant fleet. We are seaching for another group of Quarians who was sent here to find Geth data to give us an advantage over them and have not returned and request help." she said, a male Quarian grabbed her shoulder

"What are you doing! Your giving Information to Cerberus!" he yelled.

Kuruma shrugged his hand off "Enough Roz! If you can't follow orders, go wait on the ship."

Roz shakes his head sideways and backed off. Drake knew they didn't want to fight because of the Geth, he had an idea "I know our races don't get along well, but I think we should put that aside and team up if we want to get through this."

Kuruma knew she shouldn't trust Cerberus, but he was right, if they teamed up, they could make it out better.

"Alright, but we don't trust you"

"If you want to report this to the fleet go ahead guys, we want to get out of here." telling her team mates, they didn't argue.

Drake and the Quarians got their weapons ready and went out the room to investigate the factory, they were quiet on their search until Kuruma asked Drake a question.

"Why are you on your own Lieutenant?"

Drake clenched his teeth and gripped his gun in anger "I wasn't, I had two privates with me, they needed field training. It was going well until a Geth Sniper killed them".

Kuruma regretted her question "I...I'm sorry"

Drake smirked "No, Thanks, I can think about how I'm such an idiot" he replied.

Kuruma was going to speak until they heard a noise, Drake held his hand up to signal to wait, he placed his back on the wall and slowly moved to the door way.

He took a peek and saw Geth in the room, 7 normal Geth and 2 Hunters, they were searching the room for something, Drake looked to Kuruma and signed that Geth were in there. Kuruma nodded and told the others to get in postion for an attack.

"Okay, ready to fire...3...2...1...FIRE!", the group burst into the room and shot the Geth, they took down four normal Geth and damaged the others, the hunters used their stealth cloak and the other three took cover and gave supporting fire.

Kuruma saw the hunters turn invisible, she brought her omni-tool up and sent out a combat drone that was blue to distract the hunters "Get them Stodiene! Good boy!" the drone attacked the hunters while they fire at the others and Kuruma and Drake can shoot the hunters.

Kuruma went to Drakes side behind cover, "Nice one!" Drake complemented.

"Thanks!" she replied. But Kuruma's drone was destroyed and the hunters open fired on the two.

Drake looked at Kuruma's team mates, Roz shot one of the Geth but then a male Quarian goes down and dies. Kuruma heard the thump and saw one of her members dead "No!" she shouted.

Drake took fire at a hunter and destroyed it 'One down, and one hunter left', Kuruma then brought her drone back and sent it to the two remaining Geth.

"Let's destroy that hunter Lieutenant!" she said, Drake nodded and they both fired at the hunter, destroying it's shields and itself permanently.

Kuruma breathed heavily, Drake looked over to see the two got destroyed, he turned his gaze to the others and saw them around the fallen Quarian, Kuruma went over to them and knelt down. Drake knew not to disturb them, he walked over to a dead Quarian holding something in his hand, Drake knelled and took a device that can store some data "I'm sorry" he said to the dead one.

He stood up and inspected the device, Kuruma came up from behind him "I think that's the data they had to bring back", Drake saw a computer and decided to put the device in, forgetting it was not his.

The screen showed a lot's of Information about the Geth and their motives, but something caught his eye, he read through the Geth's motives, he spoke aloud "the Geth are on this planet to learn more about 'the collectors'...wait...the collectors!".

Drakes outburst of the collectors startled the Qurians, "The collectors? But they haven't been heard of for years?" Kuruma said.

Drake tilted his head down, 'The Captains gonna love this' he thought.

Drake took out the device and stared at Kuruma, 'This data is the key to our answers, I can prove that the collectors are involved, plus the Geth as a bonus. But Kuruma and the others really want this, one died to get it. I could kill them here and now and walk away with it, or I could give it to them and my help would be for nothing. Cerberus or them?' Drake thought, it was a hard choice.

Kuruma watched Drake carefully, she knew he was thinking about taking it or giving it to her. Drake finally decided, "here, this belongs to you" he handed the data to her.

Kuruma stared down at the data in shock and joy 'Is he really giving it to me? But why?'.

Kuruma stared at Drakes face, his facial expression had regret but glad as well, Kuruma rubbed her hands together nervously, trying to find the right words that wouldn't offend him "W-why are you giving me this? Cerberus hates aliens, right?".

Drake looked down at her feet, 'I don't know why, I just feel that I should help others' Drake thought, but kept looking at her three toed feet, went up to her legs 'Hmmm, those legs are...gorgeous...and those hips...her ches-' "Lieutenant? What's wrong?" Kuruma interrupted his...thoughts.

"It-Its nothing! Here!" he turned his face around to avoid seeing his blush, Kuruma tilted her head sideways in confusion but took the data.

She looked back to Drake and she had an idea "Lieutenant? How about I make you a copy of the data, for helping us?" she offered, it was the best she could do for him.

Drake turned his head to Kuruma, his mouth open slightly from the sudden surprise "Really! I would be grateful!" he yelled happily, Kuruma smiled under her enviro helmet and blushed, she typed on her omni-tool.

An explosion went off, it shook the room furiously, making Kuruma's team mates falling on their backs with Drake and Kuruma grabbing on to something. The place stopped shaking, Drake ran over to a window and peaked outside to see the Geth in front of the factory placing explosives.

Drake shook his head "Holy hell, you've got to be kidding!" he ran over to Kuruma and helped her up "C'mon! We got to get out of here!" he yelled while dragging her out, the others followed him.

"What's going on!" Roz shouted, Drake released his grip on kuruma and thought how he could explain.

"Well, there's Geth outside and they are in front of the factory and going to blow the whole place up. The end".

Everyone was silent until the Quarians screamed "THEY ARE WHAT!"

Roz ran in front of everyone "Follow me! I remember the exit way!".

The bombs were activated and they exploded, sending a massive shake and making the factory collapse slowly, Drake tried to maintain his balance but failed and he bashed into a wall that knocked him out, hearing some bones crack. Everything went dark.

* * *

Drake opened his eyes to see a white ceiling, his vision was blurry, he blinked a few times to adjust to the brightness. He slowly leaned up, feeling pain in his left arm and ribs, Kuruma was sitting near Drake, she gently placed her three fingered hands on his shoulders and placed his back on the bed.

"It's okay, don't push yourself" she said, Drake looked around the area, they were in a ship.

"What happened?" he asked.

"After the huge explosion, you were sent flying, crashing into a wall that knocked you out as well as broken bones. The others and I did our best to get you out."

Drake's breath was taken away, they risked their lives to save him, but why? "You could have left me to die, why did you save me?"

Kuruma titled her head down "I don't why, you helped us, and I just think that you would have been better in the Alliance. Why did you choose Cerberus? They hate Aliens."

Drake took a minute of silence "well, I joined Cerberus because I wanted to keep living and have a dream, not to die like a fool. I don't really have anything against Aliens, I just wanted to continue being a soldier. Cerberus wants soldiers that can do anything, the Alliance just want puppets...bastards." Kuruma sighed, she wanted to know more but Roz spoke out to her.

"Kuruma! We're almost at Omega, we need to get some things", "Okay Roz!" she replied.

Kuruma placed the copy data besides Drake, "here you go, thanks for helping us", Drake smiled "Any time, Kuruma"

They landed in a docking area and they left the ship, Drake decided to leave them in which Kuruma doesn't agree "What! But your injured!".

"I appreciate the concern, But where else can I go without you guys getting hurt? I'll be fine." Drake assured.

Kuruma silently backed away "Okay, take care Drake, Maybe we'll see each other again. Keelah'salai" she waved goodbye 'I never thought I could befriend a human, we only just met...I wish Tali was here to see this.'

Drake watched the Quarians go, 'I miss them already' he thought. He gazed at Omega "what a shit hole" he spoke out loud, he tried to contact the ark royal but couldn't. 'Great, my comm is broken, now what do I do?' he thought.

End of chapter 1

**Exclusive Chapter 2 preview**

Captain Gerulf was stomping around the Ark Royal in anger, he had been trying to get in contact with Drake for the past hour but no luck. Their communications were lost with Drake and the others for unknown reasons, Delta tried to resolve this problem but said their communications are being Jammed and she couldn't do anything.

Alan was typing on his computer, trying his best to get in contact with Drake "Damn it! What the hell's happening?".

Gerulf walked up behind Alan and placed a hand on his shoulder "He's not the type to die easily"

Alan looked up at his supeiors face "I hope they are all okay"

* * *

Drake was wandering around Omega, he studied Omega in his training days but never went, Omega is described as "the Terminus Systems' dark, twisted counterpart to the Citadel." It is a huge mining station built from the remains of a massive, irregularly shaped asteroid with twisting streets populated with homes, shops and warehouses. Omega's inhabitants are usually lawless. Territory is controlled by the strongest faction in that area and frequently changes hands, often after brutal violence. A place you don't want to get lost in, but for Drake, he could easily take this place on his own...well, almost. He saw a group of people lining up to go in 'After Life', "C'mon Let me In!".

Drake knew he wouldn't get past, he heard of a way to get in another way, he turned right.

As he was making his way to a loud sound of music, everyone was glaring at him, he knew why because he was Cerberus. He saw some ready to fire their pistols but so was he, the music was getting louder as he found a door and it opened. The music blasted out in a rhythm which he hated, the music was ugly, he went up the stairs and saw people dancing, drinking, Humans, Batarians, Asari and Turians. He made his way through the crowd in hope to find someone who could help him, but it more likely they won't.

An Asari woman was looking down on the people with a smirk, but then she saw a man in armour with the Cerberus Logo, she cringed her face "I want that Cerberus guy's ass up here, Now!" she shouted, a Bartarian jumped and nervously rubbed his neck "R-Right away ma'am!"


End file.
